Nevada sailors avoid injury in blast

Friday, Oct. 13, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- Two Nevada sailors and ship captain Kirk Lippold, who once lived in Carson City, were unharmed Thursday when a bomb blast ripped a hole in the Navy destroyer Cole.

The Navy on Thursday afternoon called Patty Melanovich, mother of Matthew Melanovich, of Winnemucca, to say her son was uninjured. He serves as a gas turbine mechanic on the ship.

"I've been smiling ever since," Patty Melanovich told the Reno Gazette Journal.

Also among the uninjured were Roger Torres of Elko and Lippold, the ship's skilpper and a 1977 Carson City High School graduate.

At least two of the dead were women. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said women increasingly play an important role in a variety of capacities in the armed forces.

"The women of America have demanded their ability to serve in the U.S. military," Reid said in an interview with Oliver North on MSNBC Thursday night.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, spent the afternoon and evening Thursday in briefings on the situation. He was on the phone at 1 a.m. today with a Navy admiral and spoke earlier with FBI director Louis Freeh. The FBI is leading the investigation, Bryan said. Divers and other investigators today are seeking clues about who organized the attack, Bryan said.

"It's clear at this point that it was a terrorist attack," Bryan said. Bryan advocates a swift retaliatory action against the bombers once their identity is known.

"I favor a lethal force," Bryan said.

Reid, also in close contact with the White House and Pentagon, in a statement vowed, "It will not be an act that goes unpunished."

That sentiment is shared by the House Armed Services and Select Intelligence Committees, said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a member of both committees and a war veteran.

"I urge the administration to act quickly in finding those responsible," Gibbons said in a statement. "As President Ronald Reagan said, 'They can run but they can't hide.' And when they are found, let them be assured that their just punishment will be swift and severe."

In a separate statement calling for peace, Reid pledged support for Israel and called the death of two Israeli reserve soldiers a "betrayal of the trust that had been extended to the Palestinian police authorities under the control of Yasser Arafat."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., had harsher words:

"I think people the world over will react with horror when they see the murderous violence of the Palestinian mob outside their own police station. Yasser Arafat has consistently refused to fully embrace the peace process, and today has shown himself to be a conspirator in the continued chaos and war in the Middle East.

"I continue to hope and pray that cooler heads will prevail, and that peace is within reach."

Sun reporter Benjamin Grove contributed to this report.